Ken Breunig, who owns part of the Plankinton Arcade at downtown Milwaukee's Grand Avenue, realized something while listening to the mall's new owners present their redevelopment plans Monday.

"In the 10 years that I have been here, I have never met a previous owner," said Breunig, whose projects include converting former upper-floor offices into the 29-unit Plankinton Loft Apartments.

The new owners, Chuck Biller, Tony Janowiec and Josh Krsnak, appear committed to converting the underused Grand Avenue into a mix of offices, restaurants, a grocery store and other new uses, Breunig said after Monday's presentation. Breunig, who also redeveloped the former Pritzlaff Hardware Co. buildings, at W. St. Paul and N. Plankinton avenues, into an event venue and offices, called their plans "doable."

That's the idea, Janowiec told his audience, who gathered at the Grand Avenue. The event was part of Young Professionals Week, sponsored by NEWaukee.

There is demand from suburban employers for collaborative downtown work space in order to better retain and attract millennial workers, Janowiec said. And the new owners realized in late January, one month after buying the Grand Avenue, that it was possible to convert a large portion of the mall into offices, he said.

"That was an aha moment," said Janowiec, an Aggero Group LLC principal and president of Interstate Parking Co.

The mall's center court atrium, just off the main entrance at W. Wisconsin Ave. and N. Old World 3rd St., now features stores on the first two floors and the third-floor food court.

The new owners want to convert the top two floors into roughly 120,000 square feet of offices. That space would take advantage of the center court atrium's skylights, and additional windows, to give it an open feel.

The street-level space would become a cluster of stores, restaurants, food stands and other new retail uses, which the owners are calling an urban marketplace. Those businesses would extend throughout the remaining first-floor space of the Grand Avenue's West Arcade, the building between N. 2nd St. and the Boston Store.

Other planned changes include a revamped main entrance; a remodeling of the Plankinton Arcade's former Linens 'n Things store into a grocery store and possible brew pub, and a renovated main entrance for the Plankinton Arcade, the building that runs between N. 2nd St. and N. Plankinton Ave.

"I think everybody knows something different needs to be done," said Biller, an Aggero Group principal.

Those changes will take advantage of the property's location on downtown's west side near Marquette University's Athletic Performance Research Center, the new Milwaukee Bucks arena and other ongoing projects, the new owners said.

"This is a story about Westown, and how Grand Avenue fits in the next phase of the Westown renaissance," Janowiec said.

The new uses are tied to market demand, said Biller, Janowiec and Krsnak. The conceptual plans will be flexible, they said, depending on what prospective tenants want.

Several Milwaukee-area businesses have moved their offices from outlying locations to downtown in recent years. The latest announcement came this month, when Bader Rutter & Associates Inc. said it would relocate in 2017 from Brookfield to the redeveloped former Laacke & Joys Co. building.

The first big step in redeveloping the Grand Avenue would be landing an anchor office tenant, Janowiec said. That would help the owners obtain financing for that part of the project.

The Grand Avenue will attract interest from potential office tenants, said William Bonifas, executive vice president at the Wisconsin office of CBRE commercial real estate services firm.

Landing office tenants would help reduce the Grand Avenue's retail space to a more sustainable amount, Janowiec said, and create hundreds of new customers for the restaurants and stores.

Meanwhile, the growing number of people who live on downtown's west side, including residents of the newly opened Buckler and MKE Lofts apartment buildings, want a grocery store, restaurants and other retail businesses, the new owners said.

Biller and Janowiec said the office and retail space would be offered at competitive rates, in part because they can provide parking at the Grand Avenue's 1,748-space parking structure. That will include free parking for the grocery customers, they said.

That grocery could range from 8,000 square feet to 34,000 square feet at the former Linens 'n Things, in the Plankinton Arcade, they said.

A grocery store is an important part of the new project because it would draw a lot of frequent shopping trips, which would add to the Grand Avenue's vibrancy.

"It's a natural fit," Janowiec said.

Potential grocery store customers include both millennials, sometimes defined as people born from 1981 through 1996, and older empty nesters, such as Dennis and Carolyn Kois, who are both in their 60s. The couple moved last year to Warehouse Lofts, about three blocks south of the Grand Avenue, and want a grocery within walking distance.

Companies that operate typical supermarkets, with around 50,000 square feet, would need more people living nearby to make a downtown location feasible, said industry site selection consultant David Livingston.

But a smaller store, perhaps with around 12,000 square feet, could make sense if it also appeals to people working near the Grand Avenue, he said. The store would likely focus on deli items and other prepared foods, with sit-down dining.

The right type of retail works at the Grand Avenue, Janowiec said, citing the success of T.J. Maxx and other stores.

Also, Ross Dress for Less, one of the nation's largest off-price clothing and home fashions chains, has shown interest in the former Linens 'n Things space. But those discussions are on hold, Janowiec said.

Other changes at the Grand Avenue include renovations to the main entrances at the Plankinton Arcade and West Arcade, with the most striking changes at the N. Old World 3rd St. entrance.

The result would be a less-cluttered, more open look that creates a public plaza. Also, the current Applebee's space would be revamped for a future restaurant featuring a street-level patio and second-level terrace.

The idea is to create "a place where you want to be," said project architect Chris Socha, of TKWA Urban Lab, a division of Kubala Washatko Architects. It would include outdoor heaters and recessed space to make it usable during cold weather, he said.

Janowiec first publicly discussed the general plans last week, during the International Council of Shopping Centers/Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin's 2015 Wisconsin Retail Conference. Monday's presentation provided more details.

Two investor groups led by Aggero Group and Interstate Parking, the companies that Biller and Janowiec operate, bought the Grand Avenue in December for $24.6 million. Their main interest was the parking structure, which accounted for $23.1 million of the purchase price.

Krsnak is president of Minneapolis-based Hempel Cos., which operates office and retail buildings in the Twin Cities.

The 293,596-square-foot Grand Avenue opened in 1982. But, after roughly 10 years, sales began declining as its retailers opened additional stores at suburban malls and customers shifted to locations closer to their homes.

By 2009, amid a deep recession, the Grand Avenue was half empty after several large tenants, including Linens 'n Things and Old Navy, moved out.

The new plans generated a lot of buzz among the 170 or so people attending the presentation Monday.

Among those were Ashanti Cook, an attorney who moved to Milwaukee from Houston six years ago.

"I have high hopes," Cook said.

But, she also has some reservations.

"In the past, things that have built up downtown have not done much for the rest of the city," said Cook, who operates Small Business Legal Services.